A Math/Chem Teacher's Discoveries

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Well it has been a while since I blogged, almost an eternity. So I thought I’d update my followers on my first year of education.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my first year. Everyday is exciting and new and comes with it’s own challenges, which helps keep me busy. Throughout the year I have come across a lot of different challenges, some easy to deal with and others not so much.

The most current of issues I’m trying to figure out is how to get around students taking assignments home and googling the answers. I love that students can get help from the internet at home, but most of them just go google a question and copy the answer down without actually trying to understand the content.

I have tried to teach my students how to use the internet to their advantage as a teaching tool instead of something just to copy from. Yet it is evident that someone somewhere will find the answer to a question on the internet.

Is there a secret to this? Or has the internet caused students to become lazy in the sense of their own learning?

Are you searching for a different way to teach your students? I’ve always been one who has taught in the room, and sent assignments home. Sometimes, your student base just doesn’t work like that. For example, they may be too energetic to take notes or become distracted easily. I found this year I have one class that is really like that, and I was wondering how I could go about flipping it. The following book has given me many insights on how to work on that:

It’s $17 on amazon.ca, if you think you’re interested in flipping your class give this a read. It will help you immensely!!

The war has been on between teachers and students using cellular devices in their classrooms for longer than I can remember. What is this battle about? Is it because teachers are worried that students are distracted and won’t be doing work? If that’s the case, maybe the teacher should revise their lesson so students aren’t so bored that they resort to using their cellular devices.

To me, especially with the advancements in smart phones, these cellular devices are and should be a learning tool. Look at the iPhone for example, there are thousands of applications in the App Store that can be used in your classroom. So why fight a losing battle, something we will never win and why not have students use these devices to LEARN. If these are their interest and passion why not make class more interesting by incorporating them or even examining them?! Not only will this create interest, but can also be a form of management as they will be occupied by other means.

The war has been on between teachers and students using cellular devices in their classrooms for longer than I can remember. What is this battle about? Is it because teachers are worried that students are distracted and won’t be doing work? If that’s the case, maybe the teacher should revise their lesson so students aren’t so bored that they resort to using their cellular devices.

To me, especially with the advancements in smart phones, these cellular devices are and should be a learning tool. Look at the iPhone for example, there are thousands of applications in the App Store that can be used in your classroom. So why fight a losing battle, something we will never win and why not have students use these devices to LEARN. If these are their interest and passion why not make class more interesting by incorporating them or even examining them?! Not only will this create interest, but can also be a form of management as they will be occupied by other means.

As an upcoming first year teacher, I thought I’d make a post to help all future upcoming teachers figuring out how and when to plan.

Often we are presented with the comments, “don’t plan too far in advance because you’re going to change it all anyways.” Well l am here to tell you that this is false! If you want to be successful in your first year I suggested the following:

start planning as soon as you know your classes

if you can, complete all your lesson plans before you do your teacher notes, power points, etc. Remember, you are an expert in these fields so having the plan will be enough to get you ahead

once you have your lesson plans done find all your handouts for each class, if you are doing sciences this is the perfect time to find labs as well

put together your teacher notes, power points, etc. But, instead doing one class at a time, try doing 3/4 of a semester of each before you finish them, that way you have plans for every class and don’t have to panic to plan one day by day!

my final tip, buy a bunch of sticky notes to make note of changes or adjustments you will need to make for the future (these notes will come as you start teaching)

I found these things worked for me, hopefully they help you, future first year teachers, find a planning pattern that works for you!